Ms Sandra Broderick:

In the mid-west, our public health consultants are leading out on a number of studies on the idea of population health planning. One of the first studies looked at the sociodemographics of the mid-west region. Ten thousand attendances at the emergency department during a two-year period were reviewed. The study found that people who lived in significant deprivation were three times more likely to attend an acute emergency department than someone from a more affluent area. They were also more likely to be admitted to hospital and more likely to stay longer in hospital.

We have identified 70,000 people in our region who fall into that category. Instead of planning for a 70,000 population in terms of emergency attendances, we now have to plan for the fact that they are three times more likely to attend. When we talk about sociodemographics and, in particular, areas of significant deprivation, it is important to note the outcomes in rates of cancer and surgeries. A lot of research is being done in the mid-west region on all of this. This needs to be factored into the core funding base we have in order to meet the needs of our population as individuals.

We also have the older population and the Deputy will have seen the ESRI piece this week that spoke about the demand and the 60% increase in the number of long-term care beds to be put into the system by 2040. There is planning going on for the demographics element.

I would also note that it is very challenging to attract the right level of consultant and make sure that we can get the required number of nurses and are not dependent on overtime or agencies. That is really important to the workforce plan.